


Secrets

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 23:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12641370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Another Pillars Prompt fill Roll For It! Take 2. I got--and I swear this was my first roll, I have photographic evidence--Aloth, book, and questions. Obviously the dice gods wanted me to write the oneshot about him teaching Emiri to read. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯





	Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Another Pillars Prompt fill Roll For It! Take 2. I got--and I swear this was my first roll, I have photographic evidence--Aloth, book, and questions. Obviously the dice gods wanted me to write the oneshot about him teaching Emiri to read. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Emiri had been staring at the blue bound book for almost a full minute when Aloth finally cleared his throat and spoke. “Is everything alright, Watcher?”

She flinched at the title, still not used to the weight of it, and hastily jammed the book back on the shelf. “Oh, yes, fine.” She cast a glance around the cobwebbed, cluttered room. “Just lost in the thought of how much work we have to do...”

He bought it--much to her relief--and nodded as he scanned the library. “Indeed. The whole keep is falling apart, but this room does seem to have been particularly neglected.”

“I guess Maerwald didn’t have much use for books once he could carry on conversations with himself...” Emiri murmured, rubbing dust off the spine of a huge, dark green tome. She tried to focus more on her regret she couldn’t tell what it said than the thought she would likely wind up same as the old man they’d battled downstairs.

“No, I guess not,” Aloth said with a sympathetic smile, leaning over to see what she’d found. “Concelhaut’s treatise on the corrosive effects of magic!” He had it halfway off the shelf before he paused and looked at her, eyes more alive than she’d seen since the night they’d met. “May I?”

“Sure.” Emiri shrugged. “I don’t have much use for anything wizard-y, anyway. Should I be intrigued or perturbed that Concel-whoever wrote _that much_ on such a narrow topic?”

“Perhaps a bit of both,” Aloth admitted as he pulled the book off the shelf and carried it it the nearest table. “Concelhaut can be a bit... pedantic, but his knowledge and contributions to the field of magic and its study are invaluable.”

She smiled watching him leaf through the pages. “Glad you’re so happy. What do you say we find the other, figure out what needs repairing first? You can bring your new book along.”

His cheeks colored ever so slightly as he closed the book and tucked it under his arm. “Apologies, Watcher. I just never expected the opportunity to so much as _glance_ at a work of this importance. To have the freedom to read it at my leisure is... almost overwhelming.”

“I imagine that would be rather wonderful,” Emiri nodded, somehow managing to keep the wry note out of her voice. “And I told you, it’s _**Emiri**._ Not Watcher.”

“Of course,” Aloth conceded, holding open the door so they could exit the library. “May I ask, why the distaste for your title?”

“I have nothing against the _title_ ,” Emiri replied. “But I’ve had a lifetime of being known for _what_ I am rather than _who_ I am.” She rubbed the still-healing marks around her wrists. “I’d really rather not deal with that again.”

He nodded as they joined Edér and Kana. “That’s understandable. Emiri.”

She smiled at the emphasis he put on the name--”Thanks, Aloth”--before greeting the others and getting down to business.

**o.O.o**

After leaving a list of repairs, ranked by importance, with Steward, they headed for Defiance Bay. It was a largely uneventful journey, aside from the acquisition of a new companion in Sagani, a dwarven ranger from Naasitaq. And one lone bandit attack that ended almost as quickly as it had been sprung when the bandits realized they’d chosen a group that included both a wizard and a cipher. They beat a hasty retreat, leaving their fallen comrades where they lay. Emiri was far from too proud to scavenge and quickly searched the two dead men for anything useful. This amounted to no more than twenty copper pands between them, a bundle of camping supplies, and a wizard’s grimoire. She promptly handed the latter over to Aloth and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him studying it when they made camp later that night.

“Anything good in there?” she asked, sitting next to him and glancing at the page. _As if it’s going to mean anything to me..._

“Oh, yes,” Aloth nodded. “Most are things I already know, but there are a couple new spells in here I think will be most beneficial.” He tilted the grimoire so she could see the page better, then frowned slightly as he looked at her. “Emiri? Something wrong?”

Emiri fought down the urge to swear. She’d been too slow hiding her blank look that time. _Maybe it’s for the best._ She took a deep breath and confessed, “I... don’t know how to read.”

Aloth blinked a couple times, then raised one shoulder in an accepting shrug. “That... does make sense, with what you’ve shared of your past....”

She laughed wryly. “Yeah, pirate-slavers aren’t usually fond of their property knowing how to read. B’sides, it’s not as if we had an abundance of time to learn.”

He closed the grimoire and was silent for a long moment. “I appreciate that you trusted me enough to tell me.”

Emiri shrugged, playing with the tattered hem of her shirt. “It would have come out eventually. I’d rather be upfront about my secrets than risk them causing trouble for us down the road.”

Something unreadable--even for her--flashed across Aloth’s face. “Admirable of you. Especially since I can’t imagine how _that_ particular secret might prove detrimental.”

“You never know,” she said quietly. “It might be important at some point.”

“If it truly worries you, would you like me to teach you?” he offered. Emiri blinked, took a scant moment to process his suggestion, and then nodded enthusiastically. 

“That would be wonderful,” she smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Aloth smiled back.

“We can start after we reach Defiance Bay,” she suggested. “Give us both some time to prepare. ‘Sides, right now I need to talk to Kana.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aloth said with a nod.

“Great.” Emiri pushed to her feet. “I’ll let you get back to learning your new spells.”

She couldn’t have stopped smiling if she wanted to as she walked away. For the first time since the bîaŵac, things were actually looking up.

**o.O.o**

Their first few lessons went well, spread out across a table in their room at The Goose and Fox. Aloth was obviously impressed with how quickly she was learning; Emiri would have been able to tell even if he hadn’t said as much. Kana offered to help as well, once he learned what they were doing.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much opportunity to use her new skill set, at least at first. Helping Kaenra, tracking down the stolen scroll of Wael, most of the tasks she found to earn some extra money didn’t require reading. But it was nice that signs were no longer complete gibberish. Even if occasionally Kana or Aloth _did_ have to correct her pronunciation.

Finally, though, when she went to recover Osric’s armor and prove herself to the Dozens, it proved useful. She didn’t have to step back and let the others look for Penhelm’s soul affidavit, she could help. And she could read it well enough to figure out the next step; Dunryd Row, to speak to the cipher whose signature marked the bottom of the document.

As it turned out, Penhelm was keeping secrets. There were things marking his soul from past lives that would have barred him from joining the Crucible Knights, had they known. Emiri understood far too well trying to escape the actions of a life that wasn’t your own, and easily agreed to keep quiet when Penhelm asked.

“That was kind of you,” Aloth commented as they made theri way back to Copperlane.

Emiri shrugged. “No one has any control over any life except their current one. He had a bit of an ego, but he seemed far from malicious. I’m not about to punish someone for what a past life did.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I can understand why he wants that a secret.”

“Still, some would have jumped at the opportunity to knock him down a peg, and you didn’t.” Aloth kicked a pebble and watched it skitter away, catching on cobblestones and changing direction as it lost momentum. She could sense he was distracted, but figured it wasn’t her business.

“I’m not most people.” Emiri stifled a yawn. “Aloth, can we skip reading lessons tonight? I’m too tired to remember anything you tell me, and I feel like we should be well-rested before crawling through catacombs looking for Woedica’s temple.”

“Of course. The lessons are for you, we can follow whatever schedule suits you best,” he said with a reassuring smile. Emiri could still feel the distraction humming along edges of his sense, now colored by worry as well.

“You alright?” she asked, concerned.

“Oh, yes.” Aloth smiled faintly. “It’s just... been a long day, and I can’t help but wonder what we’ll find tomorrow.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Emiri said as they climbed the steps to the Dozens’ expedition hall.

“I hope you’re right...” He seemed ready to say more, but kept it to himself, instead pulling open the door for her.

Emiri thanked him and beelined for where Osric stood. She hadn’t been exaggerating how tired she was. She just wanted to finish here and get back to the inn so she could _sleep_.

**o.O.o**

They did find all manner of things in the catacombs. Most of it wanted to kill them. Trolls, walking skeletons, sporelings... The only thing that _didn’t_ try to kill them on sight was a frightened orlan, who Emiri was all too willing to help before they continued searching for the temple entrance. Woedica’s followers--the Leaden Key--were obsessed with secrets, and apparently that extended to the door of their temple.

Fortunately, once she finally found it, the people inside were occupied with their own business and largely ignored her and her companions. She drew one or two odd looks for her appearance, but when part of your head _glowed_ , you got used to that.  However, any hope she’d had of finding answers had been in vain, The Leaden Key was almost as bad as Wael in that regard. Even after learning their response phrases and getting in to see the sect leader, she was left with only questions, no solid answers. It was a supremely frustrating circumstance, but getting mad wasn’t going to make it any better. So Emiri simply blew out a mildly irritated sign and led the way back to the surface. They had a couple of leads to follow, that would have to do.

She spent the rest of the day wandering the various districts--more of the errand-running for extra coin--listening to  Edér ask about petting Sagani’s fox, Kana humming snatches of song, and Aloth muttering to himself about something. Whatever it was seemed to really be bothering him, but she didn’t want to pry. Even if she could have. Easily and without him even really knowing. She’d always hated using her cipher abilities like that. She wasn’t going to do it to one of her few friends. If Aloth wanted to tell her, he’d tell him. Until then, he could keep his secret.

**o.O.o**

Among the other things they found and gained during their errand-running, the most helpful was the new companion. Even if Pallegina’s agreeing to travel with them meant switching to a larger room at the inn, Emiri was sure she would be good to have around. At the very least she was another heavy hitter to back up  Edér in a fight.

Satisfied with the day’s outcome, Emiri dug out the book she was learning to read and joined Aloth at the table.

He was picking at a hangnail when she sat down, so distracted he started when her presence registered. “Emiri, sorry. Are you ready to begin?”

“Mm-hmm. Are you alright?” she asked for the second time in as many days.  “Something really seems to be bothering you, ever since we found Maerwald.” She was polite enough not to mention his... episode in the catacombs.

Aloth bit his lip, hard enough Emiri half-expected to see blood, and sighed. “Actually, I would like to talk to you...”

“Of course.” Emiri pushed aside the book and gave him her full attention, listening intently as he spilled the scret of his own Awakened soul, how he’d hoped it would be dealt with alongside hers when they met Maerwald. How his was more present, sharing his senses and skin, prone to surfacing at the worst possible times. Everything about this past life, Iselmyr, and why he’d kept it-- _her_ \--a secret.

“Is there.... anything I can do?” Emiri asked softly.

Aloth pursed his lips in thought, intertwined fingers pressing tightly against the back of his hands. “Since our travels have already brought us to Defiance Bay, perhaps we could see one of the soul experts at Brackenbury Sanitarium? They have quite a reputable success rate.”

“Sure,” she agreed readily. “One of the leads I have from the Leaden Key Acolyte points there anyway. Two birds, one stone.”

His shoulders sagged slightly in relief. “Thank you, truly. This has been a weight on my mind for quite some time.”

“Anything for a friend,” Emiri smiled. “Especially one who’s helping me as much as you are.”

“On that note...” Aloth gestured toward her book. “Shall we begin?”

She centered it between them and opened to where they’d left off. “We shall.”


End file.
